The Stars Where You Are
by abilityPOINT
Summary: In a world of hostility and distrust, she was the coveted prize, the key to victory for the New Order for Advancement of Humanity, NOAH. Held captive on a colony far from home, all she could pin her hopes on was a pilot and his heart. Rating likely to increase. Language and violence.


Title is taken from On Top Of The World by Boys Like Girls.

* * *

**Act 1 | Scene 1**

_Where are your guts to fly__  
__Soaring through, through the night__  
__And if you take that last step__  
__I'll follow you__  
__Leave the edge and fly__  
__We're finally alive  
__  
(Skyway Avenue / We The Kings)_

* * *

_**Europa**_**, Xak-3**

'Pilot 12012209L, fall in at 0530hrs at the Captain's Quarters. Code blue, code blue.'

The transmission ended as quickly as it ended, dialog box flickering out of existence. Pilot 12012209L keyed in a code to acknowledge the message, then stood up as he removed his headgear. Leaving his headset – a single-ear headphone and microphone – on, he carried the bulky helmet in the crook of his arm as he ejected himself from the cockpit. Flashing a grin at Komui, the Chief Engineer of their mothership _Europa_, he made his way towards the pilot rooms.

His room, as every other pilot's, was a small capsule locked with advanced generation technology that included fingerprint and facial recognition as well as a voice control. It was a hassle to enter and exit, which served to encourage the pilots to use their rooms only when necessary. As he entered his room, 12012209L glanced at the digital clock that was built into the capsule wall. It read _2344_ hrs, which meant he could catch around five hours of sleep before he would have to get up again and report for duty. Living onboard the mothership meant that he sacrificed sleep and leisure for pressing matters, for example protecting the world from destruction by the New Order for Advancement of Humanity, better known as NOAH.

It was a trade-off he was willing to make, he thought as his single good eye landed on the framed photograph that sat on the desk. It was a photograph of a red haired boy, with two sparkling green eyes, with his arm slung around a girl who looked a few years younger than him. Her hair was tied up into two long pigtails and she was blushing slightly as she looked up at him.

Fate and choice had decreed that he leave her behind. He was one of the final descendants of Sector XI, the elite troops of whom had manned the First Generation Mobile Suits against aliens in AD 3900, and had been summoned to answer to the oath his ancestors had sworn – that if again a crisis befell humanity, whether of its own doing, and the Mobile Suits were to be brought back out into battle, the descendants of Sector XI would answer and helm the Mobile Suits, to at all costs save humanity.

The descendants of Sector XI were few and scattered, like the seeds of a dandelion carried far away. The new generation of Mobile Suits were named the _Innocence_, and as with all Mobile Suits, required a certain level of _Synchronization_ to be piloted. This _Synchronization_ made it difficult to find suitable pilots, as only the descendants of Sector XI had the genetic modifications required for successful _Synchronization_. However, on rare occasions there were regular humans who were able to _Synchronize_, known as the _Cresto IX_ due to their lack of affiliation to Sector XI. The pilots of Sector XI, such as 12012209L, were named Sectors, while those of Cresto IX were named Crests.

Sectors were loyal to the independent Black Order, which was founded solely for the protection of the world and eliminate any possible opponents such as the NOAH. The NOAH had become threatening over the past century, assuming aggressive stances and actions that were now endangering life on earth. With technological leaps and bounds, it was inevitable that they be stopped before they could deal more damage to the world. Already the Portugese and French had pledged allegiance to the NOAH, and it was in the Black Order's foremost interests to prevent any more support of the NOAH by national governments.

12012209L took a quick shower and was soon lying down on his bed. It was rare that sleep did not come to him immediately, but he found his thoughts drifting towards the photograph on the table. He had been 18 then, and her 16. They had met through a mutual friend, who had introduced them. They had clicked instantly, and had begun a serious relationship within the year. They had been planning to go to college together, as he had mandatory military conscription after high school that would put him two years behind. Their lives together had been planned beautifully, and he had already gained entrance to the college when the letter came.

He could still remember the azure blue sky as he opened the mailbox that one fateful day. It was spring, and the buds of flowers were just beginning to show. He had one hand around her waist, pecking her lightly on the nose as he pulled out the envelope. It was an inconspicuous, white letter that had nothing more than his name and address on it. There was no stamp, which hinted at it being personally hand delivered. He was slightly surprised, but made no sign as he joked to her that it might be a secret love letter from an anonymous admirer. She had just punched him, giggling in the way he loved.

They had gone into his house and left the letter on the dining table, all but forgotten as they kissed each other and tried to cop feels of each other's body, swatting hands away when it got ticklish. It was only as she was leaving his house that she caught sight of it and asked him to open it out of pure curiosity.

_Dear Lavi Bookman Jr., You have been summoned under the Oath of Sector XI, to aid the Black Order in the fight for humanity. As you may or may not know, the blood of Sector XI runs in you, and thus binds you to helm the Mobile Suit as a pilot. Please report to 45__th__ Korreil Street at 9.30 p.m. on the 10__th__ of April. We will discuss more matters there. _

The letter was unsigned, and for all he knew might have been a hoax _if_ he had not known better. As it was, the way he clutched at the paper was not missed by her.

"It's real, isn't it?" she asked, voice gentle and filled with sorrow. "You're one of the Sectors."

He nodded, unable to look at her. Gramps had told him about his ancestry when he was younger, telling him that he was one of the _Chosen_, one of the saviours. Gramps had warned him, perceptive old man that he was, that war would come upon the world and he – he, simple old Lavi – would be caught up in it because of his bloodline.

"Go," was all she said. "It is your duty."

He hated how she was encouraging him, how she knew what all this meant but accepted it all, taking it all in her stride. It was what made him love her, that indomitable spirit that never wavered. She was strong, he knew. She would survive even when he left. She had braced herself for it as his conscription date neared, and now – it was just like an extended sentence, a prolonged distance. She might wait for him, or she might not. He hoped she did, but would not blame her either way.

As it turned out, she had not. She had left him, one year into his training, and he had seen her photographs on occasion. A white haired boy, with grey eyes and a brilliant smile. His name was Allen Walker. At least she was happy, he reasoned to himself as he learnt to control the finer movements of the Mobile Suit. At least she was happy.

He closed his eye, letting his mind plunge into the empty nothingness of sleep. Reminiscence always wore him out, as he browsed through his memories one did a well-worn book.

* * *

_A shrill cry cut through the darkness, the sound of chains rattling heavily as the person – a girl – tried to move. A single light, flickering: a candle, being brought towards the chains and prisoner. Footsteps that echoed in an empty chamber. A snarling laugh, full of contempt and evil. "She is all we need to create a new race that can overwhelm the Sector."_

_A scream, awfully familiar._

* * *

Lavi woke up to the sound of the alarm beeping frantically. A fast wash up found him sitting back in his room at 0500hrs, with half an hour to spare. Reaching into his drawer, he took out a silver cylinder and pressed the switch at its end. A virtual projection lit up; it was the latest version of the Cyndal, a handheld tablet or laptop depending on what it was needed for. He liked it because it was convenient and portable, and was most importantly able to receive transmission from Earth even when he was in outer space. Xak-3, where _Europa _was currently based, was a few hundred thousand kilometers from Earth and anyone without the Cyndal would be unable to contact relatives or friends back home.

He scrolled through the data that was appearing on the projection's screen – updates and photographs from distant kin, a couple of emails from friends. Nothing caught his attention other than a short message from _her_, a few days ago.

「Hey, Lavi. 」it read. 「Are you doing well? I got into contact with Nella today, and we're going on a trip to Xander and Kaden's house at 4 later. Would you like to join us? 」

He frowned. Something sounded off. She would not just message him like that, and – who was this Nella she spoke of? In all the years he had known her, there was no Nella. Though… he squinted, inverting the name. _**Allen**_, he realized. There was no Xander or Kaden in their lives either, especially considering how he had completely cut off communication with the outside world after he entered the Black Order. Xa… Xak… _Xak_. Allen? Xak? 4pm? Xak-4?

Lavi was intelligent and perceptive. This much he knew she was aware. One of their games when they were together was to leave coded messages to each other, most of the time sappy and romantic. Was this a message she had sent to him to test him? He was sure he had passed, but why would she be going with Allen to Xak-4? Xak-4 was numerically one Xak-point away from Xak-3, but it was on the other side of space. Xak-3 was closer to Venus and Mercury, while Xak-4 was near Saturn and Uranus. It was the base of operations for … Lavi's heart stopped. The Black Order had suspected for a long time that Xak-4 was the base colony of the NOAH, but had no opportunity to investigate without breaking Space Protocol.

But Allen? Allen as a member of NOAH? The thought had never occurred to him in the few times he had met the other boy. Other than the white hair and impressive appetite he had, Allen was a normal boy. Why would he be related to the NOAH? And even more importantly, why would he bring _her_ to Xak-4? It wasn't like she was a Crest. Crests made up the vast majority of the NOAH, with a few non-combat staff being normal human beings who had impressive skills in technical areas. It was in the sheer number of Crests that NOAH wielded which made them a force to be reckoned with. Though the Sectors were superior in skill and power, their forces were few and far between due to their dwindling bloodline. Even on _Europa_, there were only four other Sector pilots and three Crest pilots. From what he knew of the Black Order, there were five or six other motherships and if the _Europa_'s numbers could be taken as an average they would have only around fifty pilots in total.

Worry floated to the front of his mind as he switched off the Cyndal and got ready to fall in. The unpleasant recollection of the dark dream he had had the night before did nothing to assuage his fear, and his footsteps were heavy as he made his way down the fluorescent-lit corridors of _Europa_ to the Captain's room.

* * *

Captain Cross Marian was sitting on his chair when Lavi entered.

"Sir, Pilot 12012209L reporting in."

"Ah, Lavi," – the Captain did not care much for protocol and addressed all his pilots by name, though they still tended to use their pilot numbers for identification and declaration purposes – "Right on time, as usual. The same, however, cannot be said of-"

The door to the room slid open and a dark-haired figure slammed his way in. "Pilot 1101140401K reporting in," he snarled, the numbers rolling smoothly off his tongue as he tried to catch his breath.

The Captain was more than a bit amused. "Good morning, Kanda."

"Nothing about this is good," Kanda Yuu snapped. "Now out with it, I've got things to do."

Kanda was famed for having one of the worst tempers on board _Europa_, and had a reputation for being extremely unpleasant to work with especially on mornings. Lavi was well aware of this and had a feeling that the Captain had intentionally asked both of them to report in at such an hour just for the kick of it. After all, Cross Marian was known to be a sadistic bastard who had interrogated two prisoners of war to the brink of insanity. Cross Marian was a brilliant man, but a pretty damn screwed up one in Lavi's opinion.

"The two of you are going on a scouting mission. I know it's unusual that I send two pilots out instead of a cruiser and pilot, but the higher ups have detected strange activity near Xak-1. The NOAH are suspected, of course, and they need investigation. I've found odd heat readings near Xak-1 and they resemble those of our Mobile Suits. There is a high chance of combat. Retrieve anything that seems useful and try not to kill each other. Your mission starts at 0730hrs, Lavi will be leading. _Mugen_ is to dock on _Hammer_. Make sure you cloak _Mugen_, Kanda, the element of surprise will be necessary for your ambush."

Kanda grunted in acknowledgement and left the cabin without a single word. Lavi made to follow suit, hesitating a fraction in indecision over whether to tell the Captain about his dream and the message he had received. Deciding that Cross would shoot his hopes down immediately and tell him he was wonky, he thought better of it and turned around with a formal nod to his Captain. Just as he reached for the exit button, Cross spoke.

"Lavi."

"Yes, sir?" Lavi replied in trepidation.

"Take this," the Captain said, shoving a binded sheaf of papers into his hands. "There's some information you'd find… interesting. Might want to check it out" – grinning like a Cheshire cat – "after the mission."

Lavi looked down at the papers that were now held in his gloved hands. It had an official feel to it, and had the word CONFIDENTIAL stamped across it in bright red. Obviously this was a document that held information the average pilot would not know. The Captain had turned away, effectively dismissing him. Lavi shook his head and left the room. Whatever his Captain had given him, there was definitely a purpose to it.

* * *

He headed for the comfort of his own room to get a bit of privacy before he had to go for breakfast and report for the mission with The Grumpiest Person Who Ever Lived. The next few days were not going to be enjoyable, even though he was on relatively better terms with Kanda than the average human being.

Slouching into his chair, he began to skim through the papers. It was a report on Suspected Criminal Activity in Space. The pages were a mess of words and diagrams, with some handwritten notes scribbled in the margin – likely those of the Captain's. He was beginning to find the report dull and boring ("Civilian – Xak-2 Colonies Pillaging Space Bananas" did not seem to be something of particular interest to the Black Order, they had the United Police for that), and suspecting the Captain had given the file to him for no particular reason, when he came to a page with a neon pink highlight boxing the title: NOAH – Xak-4 Colony as Operational Base for Human Experimentation.

Now, the direct naming of the NOAH as criminals was a rare sight even in the Black Order. The higher ups believed in the possibility that the NOAH might still be redeemable, so to see them writing the NOAH as having carried out suspicious activities was new.

One green eye read the report, the gears in his brain turning quickly as he absorbed the information. "The NOAH are suspected of carrying out Human Experiments on normal humans, possibly in hopes of creating a sub-race of humans which will be superior to even Sector IX. Though it is unclear how they plan to achieve such an aim, there have been occurrences of regular humans who have vanished from Earth after extensive interaction with members who are now known to be part of the NOAH. Informants of the Order have narrowed down the NOAH's experiments to a certain kind of breeding humans with a dormant gene that has not been activated. The source of this gene, however, is unknown. More investigation will be required by the Order as Xak-4 is a colony under the neutral organization of Conic."

Images and screams from his dream flooded Lavi's mind, and the message he had received began to play over and over in his mind. As his finger trailed down the paragraph of text, he paused at the sight of a hastily scrawled sentence. _Lenalee Lee – suspected to possess the Heart gene that can activate superior attributes in humans. Under surveillance from Black Order until she turned 21, has recently vanished off the face of the earth. Suspected to have been taken in by the NOAH as informants provided descriptions of a hostage with characteristics that match hers. – X. M._

His breath caught. _Lenalee_. Swearing lowly, he felt panic bubbling up in his chest. His suspicions were true. There was something they wanted from Lenalee, something that had been worth waiting for over 21 years by the NOAH. And – the word the report had used, "breeding", did not sit well with Lavi at all.

Lavi knew that Cross did everything with a motive in mind, and there was no doubt that he had given this to Lavi knowing what he was going to do. Lavi's mind whirred with digits and symbols, meticulously mapping out how he was going to rescue Lenalee. Of course, "Mission before self," one of the core values they had learnt as trainees, still held true. Once he had the damn mission out of the way, he was free to do as he pleased.

* * *

The pilots met at the Deck. _Europa_ was fitted with a large docking port where the Innocence were harboured for repairs and upgrades. Lavi's Innocence, the _Hammer_, was a sleek fighter model in shades of orange and black. It had two arms with fists that were able to change Modes to suit various combat situations at his command. _Mugen_ on the other hand was a slightly bulkier model that specialized in melee combat. It had enhanced gernum knuckles and a glowing laser sword that could split into a pair of chakram blades. The cool metallic body, cobalt and grey, was as lethal as it was graceful to look at.

Lavi jumped into the cockpit, fitting his headgear on and feeling the comforting crackle of static in his ears. After the preliminary I.D. scan by their in-built system, the screens lit up around him, bright with information: Energy levels, heat readings, Cross and Chief Commander Reever's individual windows for communication, as well as Kanda's pilot window.

"Pilot 12012209L, ready for launch!" he announced.

"Lavi, exit by Gate 1 and prepare to dock upon exit," Reever said, hitting a few controls as he spoke. The gates opened with a metallic whirr, revealing the dark expanse of space outside. Lavi saluted and pressed down on the accelerator, shouting, "Hammer, launch!"

The familiar feeling of exhilaration flooded his body as Hammer, propelled on tracks, sped towards the darkness outside. Behind him, he could hear Kanda as Mugen followed suit, surging into the emptiness beside his Innocence. Hitting a few buttons, Lavi activated _Docking Mode_.

"Mugen, commence docking!" Kanda called as the gates to _Europa _shut slowly. Mugen compacted itself, a silent mass camouflaged on the back of Hammer, which was extending its thrusters and propulsion wings simultaneously.

"18, docked!" Lavi reported. _18 _was the combination of Mugen and Hammer, which specialized in both ranged and close-combat fights. Hammer was the only Innocence which Mugen could (or would) dock with; there was a running gag on the Europa that Mugen was as difficult to manage as its master was. They were a dangerous pair when docked together, as both pilots worked in flawless co-ordination.

"Lavi, Kanda, Code Green. You can now proceed on to Xak-1," the orders were clear – they were on their own now.

"Roger that!" both pilots saluted as Lavi sent the docked suits flying off. Time and speed were always of the essence in such patrols, because they had to take their enemies by surprise. "Nadir, activate the particle disrupters, active field camouflage and photon thrusters!"

The black-and-white golem, Lavi's battle companion, batted around the cockpit, chirping, "Particle disrupters and active field camouflage, activated! Photon thrusters, activated!"

"Thanks, Nadir!" Lavi grinned even as they sped towards Jupiter. The golems were always a good help when there were many processes to be settled at top speed, such as locking onto enemy targets and activating shields.

"Welcome, welcome!" Nadir beeped as it settled itself on his helmet.

* * *

They reached Jupiter and located Xak-1 quickly enough, as the particle disrupters were able to distort radar sensors of enemy ships to conceal their movement, with the optical camouflage that they had further reducing their chances of discovery.

Entering Xak-1's atmosphere, Lavi did a quick aerial scan. Xak-1 was a giant meteorite, known to enter the orbit of the Galilean moon Ganymede every 500 years or so. There were large craters all over the rock, interspersed with the haphazard mess of white and blue buildings that was the main colony. There were people floating around in spacesuits, white specks far away from Lavi and Kanda's vantage point.

"Tch," Kanda muttered.

"What is it, Yuu?"

"It's too damn peaceful," Kanda was frowning, his brows furrowed in frustrated concentration. "They would have noticed us already, considering we're inside their airspace now."

He was right. The particle disrupters only distorted radar waves for a small radius around the suit, and anyone observing a wide-space reading of the radar waves should have picked up the distortion by now.

"Be on your guard, Yuu," Lavi said. "Nadir and Oryx, silently activate 18's weapons please."

Nadir and Oryx, Kanda's golem, beeped in acknowledgement. "Activating! Activating!"

Even as the golems were mobilizing the weapons, Lavi was navigating the suit towards ground. Reever's face appeared on the display. "18, land on the craters south of the colony."

"Roger," Lavi replied as he pulled them towards the area that Reever had directed them towards. There were many more craters at the south, blanketed in shadow. They would be good for hiding unseen guests – and also waiting ambushers. Activating suit screening, which minimized radio signals and suppressed heat signals from the suit, Lavi precariously landed. There was the barest hint of dust disturbance as he touched down, but nothing else as all other forms of camouflage and distortion were still in place.

Kanda's voice came crackling over the system – the screens had been shut off when he activated screening. "Three on the left, five on the right. They don't know where to attack, so they haven't started attacking yet."

Adrenaline coursed through his body in a giddy rush as he keyed in the data, at the same time thanking god for Kanda's warrior instincts. They had saved him from many a pickle several times as it was. His brain was working in overdrive: right was his blind spot, he had issues with depth perception after getting shot in battle two years ago. Mugen could take out those on the right side easily, but they had been tasked to prevent the NOAH from realizing they had two ships instead of one. Best not to separate this early if they could help it. As his eye scanned the controls and boards laid out before him, he noticed the navigation screen. It was the only screen besides the windscreen that was lighted up during suit screening and had the ability to track heat signatures that were not fully suppressed.

Lavi's eye widened; there was a large red dot flashing as it headed towards 18. A large red dot meant the heat signature was a dangerous hostile, which was likely attempting a sneak attack but had failed due to its suppressors not fully working – or intentionally not cloaking its signature in order to achieve a desired outcome from the two hidden suits.

_Movement_. The NOAH were too crafty to be so careless, so the answer was obvious.

"Yuu! We're charging twelve o'clock. Take out the flanks, don't leave them time to react. Then we hit Captain Obvious down there and I'm going to launch off. This area isn't safe for landing, there should be a neutral port nearby. At least they can't attack us there."

Kanda made a non-committal sound of agreement.

"Nadir and Oryx, lock the gunslashes."

18 was a tall Innocence when docked. Two mechanical arms gripped the gunslashes as Kanda and Lavi both got into position. The gunslash was an energy sword which doubled as a gun; it was a simple and relatively weaker weapon, not the one that they usually used, but its versatile nature made it the best choice for quick fights like this.

"Three thousand, two thousand, one thousand!"

They charged, a blur of metallic orange and cobalt. There was a sudden flurry of action as the previously hiding NOAH suits were quickly cut down without the chance to retaliate. Kanda was a merciless fighter, taking control of the gunslashes and landing critical cuts without even backing off. Lavi kept his eye trained on the navigation panel; the heat signatures from the downed suits were slowly blinking off but the one that had been charging towards them was not letting up. There was still a distance before they could engage in proper close-range combat, so Lavi decided to end it before it started.

"Yuu, pass control!"

Almost instantaneously, he was in charge of the weapons. "Photon shots, activate!"

The gunslashes began charging, two beams of light that stood out starkly against the darkness. "Locking on target, locking on target!" Nadir chirped.

The crosshair appeared just as a black and golden mobile suit appeared within the line of firing. Lavi pulled the triggers, launching two identical photon bullets. There was a cloud of dust and a small explosion as the shots hit home, and 18 had launched off into the air again.

"What the hell, man," Lavi swore as he re-activated the cloaking systems. "Reever, can you send me the coordinates of the neutral port?"

"Coming through." There was a series of beeps as a message popped up on the screen: _PORTS OF XAK-1 / R.W_

"Yuu, activate Mugen's camouflage! We have to keep up the illusion that there's only one suit here when we land."

"Didn't need you to tell me that, and stop calling me by my name!"

* * *

The neutral port was brightly lit. Kanda had ejected himself from his cockpit before they docked, and was set to meet Lavi outside the port. It was in the middle of the colony, so they were dressed in civilian clothes to evade suspicion. As he gazed out at the landscape of Xak-1, he heard footsteps moving towards him. It was his co-pilot, who held in his hand a Cyndal, on which he had imported a map of Xak-1 and blueprints of the colony earlier. Reever was, besides being the Europa's Chief Commander, a master hacker so it was no surprise he had been able to get his hands on such confidential information.

"Let's get ourselves the privacy of a room first," Lavi whispered the moment he was close enough to Kanda. The other did not reply but turned away to walk towards the North Spire which lay just ahead.

The North Spire was a massive group of skyscrapers in white and blue, with the main building having an antenna mast that glinted silver in the cold sunlight. The automated doors, of the same colour scheme, slid open without a sound as they approached. There was a neon signboard on their right, which pointed in different directions to different places. Kanda noted the "_Hotel_" and headed towards it, Lavi following close behind.

They were able to get a room quickly enough; the sign of the Black Order, a white Rose Cross, was recognized in all neutral colonies and granted them ease of access to many places. As they walked into the hotel, footsteps tapping on marbled floor, they were still on high alert – there were security cameras at the front of the corridor, at the end and three doors down from their room. The cameras had blind spots within the radii of 32.398mm around and below them, and between the overlapping camera views, there was a small blind gap. Kanda opened the door to their room and Lavi closed it. The room had two single beds, a wide-screen television, a bedside table and an attached bathroom along with a small pantry. There was a small plant pot by the window, and two paintings hanging on the wall. One was a portrait of a lady dressed in silver and red, the other a landscape of what Lavi recognized as San Francisco's skyline.

Before he did anything else, Kanda went up to the lady's portrait and peered at the eyes. They were glinting, a failed deception. He pulled out a small handgun and put two bullets through the pinhole cameras. At the same time, Lavi was picking out the activated charcoal balls that lined the top of the pot, until he found what he was looking for – a black-coloured sphere. He tossed it to Kanda, who repeated what he had done to the cameras. After further inspection of the room, including poking and prodding at the landscape painting and taking apart the pen on the table to make sure it was not another secret voice recorder, both of them were satisfied that they were going to get the privacy they required. It was always the same cycle, debugging their rooms before they could get down to mission proper. Such was the age of suspicion and fear they lived in.

Switching on the Cyndal, Lavi opened the files that he had imported. Overlaying the map and the blueprint, he pointed to Kanda three specific spots – a place labelled _LA-1_, an empty expanse of ground between five buildings and an underground room labelled _WA-9_.

"Suspicious activities have been detected around these three areas." Lavi said, setting the Cyndal on the bed. His finger hovered over the first spot. "LA-1 is a laboratory. We are to meet Trout tomorrow, he is one of our informants. Apparently he has observed several high-ranking NOAH members entering and exiting the lab recently, which is unusual.

"Next is Point X," pointing to the expanse of empty ground, "there have been reports of screaming and scuffling around this place at night. The colony has a curfew, where all citizens must be indoors by 0100 hrs every day. The reports are that there are loud shrieks from this area, at around 0300 to 0530 hrs on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. However, residents of these five buildings have not reported any issue thus far.

"Lastly, WA-9 is an underground warehouse. It supposedly stores several test subjects of the NOAH, but nobody has ever verified that claim. It might be an urban myth, but it might hold water. Captain and Chief both want us to look into it, just in case."

Kanda looked at the three points, then grunted in irritation. It was going to be a longer mission than expected. "Patrol my fucking ass," he growled.

For once, Lavi agreed.

* * *

Once again, another cross-conceptual story. Highly inspired by the Gundam universe, most notably Gundam 00, but with story elements of -man. I have also taken bits of inspiration from Phantasy Star Online 2 and Dragon Nest.

For research and references:  
-man Wikia, Gundam Wikia, Wikipedia.

Also, just for clarification: The Xak points stated in this story are fictional versions of the Lagrangian points that truly exist in the solar system. For writing intentions, I have assumed that Xak-1 takes the form of a meteorite. Other Xak-points, as introduced in the story, will take various forms.


End file.
